Religion 



true or false, and seeks a common ground for all, 

 a condition surely not met by his definition. It 

 would not be difficult, but perhaps is unnecessary 

 here, to quote examples or cases to prove this. 



His second definition is : " Religion is the sat- 

 isfaction of some of the wants of the souls of 

 men." This is childish. You might as well de- 

 fine the practise of any virtue, art, any intellectual 

 enjoyment, the love of gain, or even food or drink, 

 in the same words. An effect is again mistaken 

 for a state of being, and a causa causans is classed 

 as its consequence. 



The third definition runs : " Religion is the 

 music of the infinite echoed in the hearts of men." 

 This, of course, is metaphorical, and poetical if 

 you like. It is no doubt a good " imaginative 

 idealization," but not a clear definition which can 

 enable us better to understand with our reason- 

 ing faculties what religion really is. It is, how- 

 ever, the only one of the three definitions, albeit 

 vague and parabolical, which comes near the 

 truth. It would have been still nearer, it appears 

 to me, had it been expressed as : " The pulsations 

 of the human heart vibrating into infinity." 



35 



